Description
""THE FOUNDATION OF SCIENTIFIC ORNITHOLOGY"" First edition in English. London: Printed by A[ndrew] C[larke] for John Martyn, 1678. Folio in 4s (14"" x 8 7/8"", 355mm x 235mm). [Full collation available.] With 80 etched-engraved plates (2 bird-catching diagrams, 78 ornithological) and 2 typeset plates of charts. Bound in contemporary speckled calf with a double blind fillet border. With a vertical division near the spine-edge of a double blind fillet and a blind scalloped roll. On the spine, six raised bands with gilt rolls. In the panels, a double gilt fillet border surrounding gilt scrollwork. Title gilt to the second panel within a double gilt fillet border. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. All edges of the text-block speckled red. Both boards starting at the upper edges, but still solid. With some rubbing and staining generally. With marginal worming at the lower edge from the front paste-down to Qq3, not affecting the text. Altogether a bright copy with fine margins (some 40mm at the fore, 30mm at the bottom and 20mm at the top) and an exceptional impression of the plates. On the title-page, the early ink inscription ""Hindlater"" (?). Willughby (1635-1672) was the pupil of Ray (1627-1705) at Trinity College, Cambridge, long a hub of natural science. Willughby revolutionized the taxonomy of birds by classing them not according to their edibility or personalities, but by the ways their habitat and behavior interacted with their physical forms. He died young, however, and it was his tutor Ray who brought his work to press, first in Latin (Ornithologiae libri tres. London, 1676) and here in English. These paved the way for later organizational developments under Linnaeus and, ultimately Darwin. Anker 532, Ayer/Zimmer II.677, Nissen IVB 991, ESTC R9288.
